Silent Period is a period of time during which English Language Learners avoid

speaking in English. They may write in English, they may well understand what is being
said in English, but they will shy away from saying anything in the language they are
learning.

This can be due to several factors including: feeling inadequate, inability to formulate
certain sounds correctly, peer pressure, performance anxiety, bad teaching, cultural
influences, fearing the teacher’s reaction, introvert personality, and so on.

According to Stephen Krashen, one of the contributors to the field ofSecond

Language Acquisition, most new learners of English will go through a Silent Period.

There is no set time for the Silent Period. Each student is different and the Silent Period
may last from a few days to a year. However the teacher can help shorten the Silent
Period by involving the students who may suffer from it in role plays and hands-on
activities. Also having them work in small groups can help these students feel more
confident in producing oral language.

The Silent Period is considered a pre-production stage in the learning process. It is a

delicate stage that requires understanding and gentle encouragement but one that
should be respected. Students should not be forced to speak before they are ready.
A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to
one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial
expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying social information
between humans, but they also occur in most other mammals and some other animal species. (For a discussion of
the controversies on these claims, see Fridlund[1] and Russell & Fernandez Dols.[2])
Humans can adopt a facial expression voluntarily or involuntarily, and the neural mechanisms responsible for
controlling the expression differ in each case. Voluntary facial expressions are often socially conditioned and follow a
cortical route in the brain. Conversely, involuntary facial expressions are believed to be innate and follow a
subcortical route in the brain.
Facial recognition is often an emotional experience for the brain and the amygdala is highly involved in the
recognition process.
The eyes are often viewed as important features of facial expressions. Aspects such as blinking rate can be used to
indicate whether or not a person is nervous or whether or not he or she is lying. Also, eye contact is considered an
important aspect of interpersonal communication. However, there are cultural differences regarding the social
propriety of maintaining eye contact or not.
Beyond the accessory nature of facial expressions in spoken communication between people, they play a significant
role in communication with sign language. Many phrases in sign language include facial expressions in the display.
There is controversy surrounding the question of whether or not facial expressions are worldwide and universal
displays among humans. Supporters of the Universality Hypothesis claim that many facial expressions are innate and
have roots in evolutionary ancestors. Opponents of this view question the accuracy of the studies used to test this
claim and instead believe that facial expressions are conditioned and that people view and understand facial
expressions in large part from the social situations around them.

It’s late in September and the novelty of the new year is beginning to wear off.  I know some
students will test the boundaries of appropriate classroom behavior to see what will happen, and
others just plain struggle to get through day after day of school.  I find myself remembering a
piece of helpful advice I learned in my first year of teaching. 

Ms. Cunningham had been a special education teacher for decades, and was probably the most
senior member of my school's staff. That year she was serving as a literacy coach while she
pursued her doctorate in education, and so I had the benefit of her eyes on my teaching from
time to time.  She was known for being “old school” when it came to classroom management,
and students who were unruly most anywhere else wouldn’t dream of it in her classroom.
As she watched me struggle to teach a class with
some particularly hyperactive boys, she must have
seen a perma-frown forming on my face. 
After class, Ms. Cunningham told me, “It takes time, but you'll have to get really good at doing
this--” She turned to her left and made a stern face and shook her index finger at an imaginary
student. Then, without skipping a beat, she turned to her right and adjusted her facial
expression into a big smile and gestured invitingly at another imaginary student.  It was powerful
to watch how she shifted her demeanor with such awareness, having had so much practice.

Our facial expressions are powerful communication

tools in our classrooms!  When confronted with
difficult behavior from some students, the danger is
that we get frustrated and apply our reaction to an
entire class of students.
And since teachers “make the weather” in our classrooms (who am I quoting?!), this very human
error can be the difference between a positive and negative overall tone of a classroom. Ms.
Cunningham was subtly yet concretely showing me how to compensate for the inclination to
carry (negative) emotions on our faces from one moment to the next. 

An added benefit of this practice is that changing our facial expression can actually change our
perception of our own feelings. When we smile, even if it’s fake, our brain releases endorphins
that make us feel happier!  (I love to pull this fact out for students who seem to approach a task
with a negative attitude, and ask them to "try it out" to see if it works... 99% of the time it does!)

Working with a large group of students in a limited

amount of time requires teachers to manage our
emotions with more control and speed than we
generally do in normal adult life.
Taking a second to consciously reset my facial expression after addressing a negative behavior
with a student goes a long way to ensure that the “weather” in my classroom stays fair.